Adobe Launches AIR 2.5 for TVs, Mobile, Tablets and Desktops

At its annual Adobe MAX developer conference, Adobe launched Adobe AIR 2.5 for TVs, mobile devices and tablets, including Android and RIM.

At its annual Adobe MAX
developer conference, Adobe is making good on its promise to deliver its
software to multiple screens by delivering the Adobe AIR 2.5 runtime for
televisions, mobile devices and desktops.
Adobe
is a leading sponsor of the Open Screen Project, whose goal is to enable
consumers to engage with rich Internet experiences seamlessly across any
device, anywhere.

At
Adobe MAX 2010 in Los
Angeles, Adobe Systems announced Adobe AIR
2.5 software for televisions, tablets, smartphones and desktop operating
systems. A key element of the Adobe Flash Platform, AIR
enables developers to leverage existing code to create and deliver stand-alone
applications across devices and platforms.

In
an interview with eWEEK, David Gruber, group product marketing manager for Flex
and Flash Builder, said Adobe AIR now
supports smartphones and tablets based on Android, iOS, BlackBerry Tablet OS,
and desktops including Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems. In
addition, Samsung will be the first television manufacturer to ship Adobe AIR
in its line of Samsung SmartTV devices while Acer, HTC,
Motorola, RIM, Samsung and others are expected to ship the runtime preinstalled
on a variety of devices, including tablets and smartphones later this year and
early 2011.
With Adobe AIR, developers are
able to use familiar tools including Adobe Flash Professional CS5, Adobe Flash
Builder and Flex to build rich stand-alone applications. Hundreds of them are
already available on Android Market, Intel AppUp center and Apple's App Store
today.
"Prior to this release, AIR
has been used to run apps on the desktop, but AIR
2.5 is able to support mobile apps and TVs with common frameworks and common tools,"
Gruber said.
In addition to AIR 2.5, Adobe unveiled
Adobe InMarket on Oct. 25. Adobe InMarket is a new service that allows
developers to easily distribute and sell their applications on app stores
across different device types from Acer, Intel and others. Adobe InMarket
operates seamlessly in the background and allows end users to download
applications directly from the storefront. For more information about Adobe
InMarket, visit www.adobe.com/go/inmarket.
"Adobe InMarket solves the problem of developers getting
into as many markets as they can," Gruber said. "Everybody wants to
get into the app game. Adobe InMarket connects the dots and distributes apps to
all the app stores and also takes care of the financials and the analytics. And
it goes back and tells the developer where their stuff sold, etc. We expect to
have 10 app stores connected by 2011."
"With the release of AIR
2.5, more than 3 million Flash developers can now build a single game or application
and easily deploy it across multiple application stores and devices," said
David Wadhwani, senior vice president, Creative and Interactive Solutions
Business at Adobe, in a statement. "This is a huge step forward for
developers looking to build rich, engaging applications but have historically
had to incur the cost of building and deploying this content across multiple
devices and platforms."

Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.